Haunted
by INMH
Summary: For the angst bingo challenge, prompt "Stalkers". Pre-Chapter 3 of Issue 3, S11. SPOILERS for comics. She was always with him.


Haunted

**Rating:** PG/K+

**Genre:** Angst/Drama/Humor

**Summary:** For the angst_bingo challenge, prompt "Stalkers". Pre-Chapter 3 of Issue 3, S11. SPOILERS for comics. She was always with him.

**Author's Note:** …Yes. Tess is probably going to feature in most Smallville-related fic-fills. Get used to it.

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Smallville. It belongs to Alfred Gough, Miles Millar and the CW.

()()

"Careful, don't choke on that tomato!"

Lex jumps in surprise, as sudden as she appears. He tries to ignore her, but it's difficult. He can't remember what Tess was like before, but at the moment, she strikes him as the kind that's very good at making herself heard when she wants to be.

"Ignoring me, Lex? Come on now: Throw me a bone."

He does hold out a hope that ignoring her, depriving her of the only interaction she has, might make Tess break down. Most people don't do well with complete and total isolation; many needed a bare minimum of contact to keep themselves from going completely insane. There's a strong possibility that his dearly-departed sister falls into that category.

Tess sits on the edge of the table where he's eating his lunch. They're in public, so part of the silent-treatment is because of the fact that there are people there to hear him. A few people behind the scenes knowing what's going on? That's fine. The general public seeing him having a conversation with his 'dead' sister? Not okay.

"You know, I actually wish I _was_ a ghost. At least then I'd be able to make lights flicker and knock things over. I should be so lucky as to hit you with something."

As easily as Lex talks whenever she shows up for a chat, there is a level of tension, anxiety whenever Tess pops in. He _killed_ her (and he's starting to understand why), and judging from the questions that reporter was asking at the press conference, he's not out of the woods as far as investigations go. Tess had people that cared about her, apparently _continue_ to care about her, and he doesn't know who they are. It's not impossible that he's overlooked a detail, some clue, something that might tell the right person that Tess didn't take her own life. And if they find such a clue, Tess might end up being the only person he talks to without a bulletproof sheet of glass between them.

As a sort of revenge, Tess seems to be intent on putting Lex on the edge and keeping him there. She's taken to turning up at the strangest places at the strangest times and deliberately making sure that he knows she's there, even if she doesn't always try to initiate conversation. There are times when she won't even announce her presence, instead hovering nearby and waiting for him to sense her watching.

He's gotten better at knowing when she's there, but in a way, that only makes things worse. When he _knows_ she's there, but can't see her, and she doesn't respond when he calls? It's eerie. She might as well be a ghost, even if she can't hurt him- she has all the vengeful urges to prove it. She takes pleasure in scaring him when she can.

"You know, you have to talk to me eventually. You may not remember it, but I know you, Lex: Your temper leaves much to be desired, and I've got _years_ of stuff to remind you of that will eventually get you talking."

That's another problem with Tess as an unwilling hanger-on: Assuming that this really is the work of the toxin and not him going insane, this is, really, Tess. A hallucination would have been the lesser of two evils, because at least then she wouldn't know anything that he didn't know. But this is truly her, and she must have plenty of secrets she's delighting in keeping from him.

Tess was better off dead, and Lex was going to do whatever he could to make it that way.

The drone is, for the moment, his only viable option. If the experiment with Henshaw fails, it's a setback; he could look into other ways. But if it _succeeds_… There are equal possibilities for good and bad outcomes. The best scenario is that he repeats the experiment, it goes off without a hitch, and Tess's consciousness is transferred into the drone. Then he destroys it: Problem solved.

Or the procedure could fail. It could not work or, heaven forbid, maybe _he'll_ be the one that gets put into the drone. Or maybe Tess will regain her senses faster than they can anticipate and escape. As long as she has a body and a way of communicating, she's a threat. She's overheard way too much sensitive information, never mind what she knows from when she was alive, to not be.

But it's a risk he'll have to take, because he's not sure how much longer he can handle-

"_Hey!_"

After a long moment of silence, Tess almost yells the word and it startles Lex enough that he ends up squeezing his sub harshly, making a jet of mayonnaise squirt all over his shirt. Lex shuts his eyes and drops it back onto the plate as Tess starts to laugh.

"Juvenile," He whispers, and he can _feel_ the satisfaction radiating from her.

"I'll get my kicks where I can, Lex."

When he opens his eyes again, she's gone.

But she'll be back.

-End


End file.
